My turn: Elimination of lead a planned move?

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The last lead smelter in the United States—which produces lead bullion from raw lead ore for ammunition manufacturers, among other purposes–is set to close in December due to the EPA increasing air quality standards 10-fold, according to the NRA-ILA.

Several “secondary” smelters, where lead is recycled from products such as lead acid batteries or spent ammunition components, still operate in the United States. But the primary source for lead ammunition is closing. And we wonder if—like so many other things now coming to light with the federal government—it was planned to impact ammunition manufacturing.

The lies about lead have been promulgated by the mainstream media—and state and federal government officials–for decades now, to the point where most low-information voters now actually believe the lies.

The timing of the closure is interesting: just a month after California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that will ban lead ammunition for all hunting in California. The Center for Biological Diversity has tried multiple times to get similar regulations at the federal level by trying, and repeatedly failing, to get the EPA to regulate conventional ammunition under the Toxic Substances Control Act. Is there any chance the EPA just found a new way to do it?

The smelter had made significant efforts to reduce lead emissions, but in 2008 the federal Environmental Protection Agency issued new National Ambient Air Quality Standards for lead that were 10 times tighter than the previous standard. Given the new lead air quality standard, the smelter made the decision to close the Herculaneum smelter.

At this time, it’s unclear if the Doe Run smelter, or another company, will open a new lead smelter in the United States that can meet the more stringent lead air quality standards by using more modern smelting methods. According to NRA-ILA, what is clear is that after the Herculaneum smelter closes its doors in December, entirely domestic manufacture of conventional ammunition, from raw ore to finished cartridge, will be impossible.

It appears that current state and federal leaders, from the White House on down, have agenda items that they are pushing heavily—to the detriment of the survival of the United States.

Bill Karr, a Placerville resident, is editor of the Northen California edition of Western Oudoor News.